Dog Days
by Telefonmast
Summary: Alex saves a badly wounded Arcanine, who in return saves him from a fate worse than death Rated M for descriptive bloody violence and possible sexual content in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Why hello there, readers.  
Req'd by someone who wishes to be anonymous. Thanks, anonymous person!  
Extra note: the é is CTRL+ALT+E on a standard keyboard é_é  
"This is speech." [This is Pokemon speaking.] "[This is translated Pokemon]" (This is a note) "/This is thinking/" and this ↓ is hopefully a great story.  
Thanks a lot for reading

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Chapter 1  
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The Arcanine ran through the forest, with two Scythers close on her tail. One of them managed to slash at her leg, making her fall onto the ground, adding to her gunshot wounds. The scythers started to converge on her, slashing.  
"That's quite enough! Return, you two." An unseen voice said. Two red beams shot out from the underbush, sucking the two Scythers in. The poacher emerged from the underbush, Poke-ball in hand, ready to catch it. The man started to laugh slightly.  
This continued for a few seconds before a car was heard in the distance. The poacher heard the car, judged it as being the forest ranger patrol car, and decided to run off. Hopefully he wouldn't be found -  
His leader would not be happy about this! He sat, in a area where he could not be seen, and plotted. He needed the Arcanine. How would he get her? Simple. Kill the ranger as he left the car? Killing was something that poachers  
traditionally stayed away from, adding to the pressure that the forest rangers provide would be suicidal. But this Arcanine was rare, and he wanted it. Or rather, his boss wanted it. He didn't know why and quite frankly, didn't want to know.  
The 4x4 drove along, until the driver must have noticed her. Around this area, Arcanines were pretty rare, and a pretty good catch for a trainer. But cars were expensive here, not to mention one that is capable of clearing the forest roads.  
Even the most well-maintained road was fraught with danger. Who was this person?

The arcanine writhed in pain as her adrenaline started to run out and the pain started to kick in. The car braked, skidding slightly against the grass until it was a metre or two away from the Arcanine. The door opened. And out stepped someone who didn't look like a forest ranger.  
Perhaps he was off-duty, but regardless he had a shotgun, and such shotguns were standard issue for Rangers around these parts. He brought with him the medical kit. As he was doing this, Arcanine took a closer look at him. He was wearing a armband with a red cross on it, and apart from that blue jeans, a jacket and a white T-Shirt.  
All in all pretty average. He rushed over to the Arcanine with a medical kit in hand. He didn't have... any official medical degree or certificate, he just learned from experience, and by now he was pretty good at this. "Damn..." The medic said. The arcanine was pretty shot up, and seeing this gave the poacher an idea. He would wait for the Arcanine to be patched up...  
Then steal her. so he wouldn't have to pay anyone to fix her up. "Hah... I'm so clever." the poacher said to himself. The Arcanine tried desperately to warn the human of the poacher's presence, but all was in vain.  
The medic, whose name was Alex, was currently removing the bullets, and disinfecting the cuts. This was routine for him and he considered it a point of honour to never have had anyone die on him, and he communicated this to Arcanine.  
It seemed to calm her down slightly. When he was done, he bandaged some of her wounds and Alex was summoning his strength to try and lift the Arcanine into the van. He was in the process of doing this, and was putting her down in the car when the shots rang out from the poacher's gun. "YOU'RE MINE!" The poacher shouted.

Some of the buckshot pellets scored a lucky hit on Alex, who was scrambling to get into the drivers' seat as blood trickled down his shirt and Alex winced in pain. The arcanine felt sorry for him, too - but the Arcanine was more interested in her own safety. -  
The poacher, seeing that Alex was going to escape, ran to his car, providing Alex a opportunity to radio in for help. He reached his hand for the radio mic, and with pain he held it to his mouth. "This is Ranger Ale... Argh, Alex." He winced in pain as the blood was now trickling down to the seat. "I need... Backup along Buneary Rd, I've encountered a... -heavy breathing- Arcanine,  
it's been shot and... rrrrg, So have I.." Alex released his grip on the radio, letting it fall to the floor. A response came in from the speaker, simply saying "Backup enroute, Drive back to base if you can, over and out."

Alex was on his own now. He put his foot down onto the accelerator as the Arcanine in the back growled at the sudden change of speed. The poacher's vehicle was hot on their tail, but Alex, with his superior knowledge, managed to lose him  
and return back to the base. As he put the handbrake on and used the horn, he fainted from blood loss and exhaustion. Sensing this, the arcanine barked a few times for attention. It was weak, and because of its numerous wounds the barking hurt her but she persisted regardless. Soon, someone came and got him out of the car  
"Jesus, Alex... Are you alright?" he said. Alex was barely concious at the time. "No, i'm just fine. Not like i was hurt or anything." Alex said weakly, laughing. "Glad to see you've still got your sense of humor. And... oh God! What happened!" The man shouted,  
seeing the wounded Arcanine at the back of the van, whimpering slightly. "Okay... Wow. Okay, okay, just wait..."

The world seemed to spin in all sorts of different colours to Alex as he is knocked out.

And then the world went black.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER

"Alex... Alex? Is that you?" He heard. "I'm... I'm... I'm fine." Alex groaned. "You should be fine now... The pellet's been removed. The only way we could get to you was to anaesthesize your Arcanine... She kept biting everyone, ha ha."  
"...My Arcanine? I.. I don't have a arcanin-" He cut himself off as the dog herself entered the room. Her stitches had been fixed, and it looks like she was ready to go. She stared at Alex in adoration, and yipped slightly while nuzzling his hand.  
Alex got up. "Well, I suppose I should get back to w-" He was cut off by his boss. "No way! the evidence we have of poachers means it's too dangerous. Even for us. We've called in Kanto Military Support, but that's all we can do.  
We expect they'll be done in 6 months. Hey... You've been working hard for 2 years now. This is your holiday. Go, take your Arcanine and have a bit of fun." His boss said. "... My Arcanine? What do you mean?" Alex said, confused. The arcanine licked his hand.  
"Well, you need a Pokemon partner for when the holiday's over... And you need one to travel over the Region, no?" he said. "Eh, I Suppose. She's taken quite a liking to me, hasn't she?" Alex said, with the Arcanine now sitting faithfully by her side.  
"Well, here's half your holiday pay in advance..." The man handed over $10,000 Poké. 10K was enough to pay for 6 months holiday, and he'd get more over time as well.  
With battling, you usually set the stake, usually the standard 15 Poké per knockout rule. "And here..." His boss handed over a card, not too unlike a debit or credit card, but with a open circle on the top left which you can thread something through, to attach it to a necklace or a belt etc.

"This certifies you to be the trainer of the Arcanine, and, by the way, I took the liberty of spending $400 Poké to get a Luxury Ball. The arcanine yipped slightly at the mention of such a rare ball. Of course, she disliked Pokéballs,  
but when the opportunity arises to have her put in her ball, at least she'd be happy in there. "I think you know what goes from h" The man was interrupted as the Arcanine got tired of waiting and rammed her head against the centre button of the ball,  
sending her into it. It didn't rock at all, and Alex could swear that the ball vibrated slightly. He let the Arcanine out, and her tail wagged at the fact of seeing her new Trainer. "/Trainer!/" Arcanine yipped, which everyone else heard as a happy bark. "Now... We need to get her a Translator!" one of his co-workers said.  
"[We all have one, But you can't get one until you return. They're only a few thousand or so... I'm sure your Arcanine could help with earning you a bit of cash.]" an Umbreon said. Shocked at being spoken to by a Pokemon, he exclaimed "Uh... Okay..." Alex said. "Well, you'd best be going. We've got loads of damned paper-work  
to get through now because of you! now go on, shoo! Come back in 6 months." They all shared a laugh and a friendly goodbye before Alex left onto the open road.

"We... We're free now. Free from Pallet. Now, we could go to Viridian to get you a Translator... All these happy barks are all well and good, but... well.. I don't really know you, do i?" Alex said. "I like to know the people i travel with."  
the Arcanine nuzzled against his leg. "We can make good time for tomorrow. But now... We need to get some firewood. We're going to have to camp out." Arcanine happily growled and ran off, presumably to hunt.

"And let me do everything, right?"


	2. Chapter 2

A/A/N Well, it's this time again. Remember, this story was a request: I take any and all requests.

-Chapter 2, Before the Storm-

"I sure wonder where Arcanine's scampered off to..." Alex said, with the response being a dead Magikarp dumped at his feet and Embers shot at the pile of wood to ignite it.  
"You... You're back, then." Alex said. the Arcanine nodded her haid vigorously before dragging the Magikarp onto the fire. "What would i do without you?" Alex stroked the Arcanine's mane, causing her to sit down, and then lay down near him,  
wagging her tail contentendly. One slightly burned and badly-cut (Survival knives for you.) Magikarp and several fillets later, they both fell to sleep.

the Arcanine was laying next to Alex, her warm fur keeping him warm as he slept. He needed a backpack and some other kit, but he always keeps his knife on him in his boot.

Old habits die hard.

Alex woke up at 6 to Arcanine licking his face. "Okay, Okay, Arcanine, we'll go.. Just five more minutes." Arcanine barked in his face. "God, my ears! Okay, Okay, now, now." Alex got up, his ears ringing from the barking.  
As he got up, he noticed a flame in the background. It looked like it was on the end of a tail of some sort because as soon as he saw it, it swished away. "Let's go..." Alex counted the money in his pocket. still $10,000 Pok , which was enough to buy a translator. The rest, well, his Arcanine could deal with - As she so aptly demonstrated, catching a Magikarp from Arceus-knows-where, he judged that he was around 3KM away from Viridian, and he could make it by evening if they set off now. "Arcanine, It's time to go." Alex announced, getting up and leaving. (As he didn't have any camping kit, or a backpack, apart from his survival knife which he recieved when he signed up for the Pok mon Rangers.  
As he walked, he saw that flame in the distance. Alex just thought it was some sort of Ponyta at this point. At realizing that it was found, the owner of the tail quickly dissapeared, althrough Alex could still tell it was tailing ( no pun intended ) him. After a few hour's walking (and a few running away from the wild Pok mon that took a dislike to a human in their territory),  
they arrived at Viridian. "Wow..." Alex exclaimed in amazement. He hadn't really ever left the Pallet Ranger Base too much, and he had heard tales of how it was possible to live in the city for several years and not to have even seen a third of it. But wow, it was massive!

As he entered the city, he saw the 'Tech Store'. It was a pretty big store, and, figuring it would have the translator that he wanted, he entered. The more premium ones cost a good 3000 Pok , but there were a few that were a better deal. There was a great one for 500 Pok , but it only came with Normal type translator as standard.  
You had to buy additional translator parts, but they only cost around 500 Pok for extra addons, he considered buying them. After a few minutes of considering it, he decided to buy it. They were out of Fire-type parts, but they said that they were taking a delivery tomorrow.

After he bought the translator, he decided to tell his Arcanine what had happened. She seemed particularly dissapointed in the fact that she'd have to wait until tomorrow to talk to her new master, but she decided that at least she was going to be able to talk, and not many other pokemon had a opportunity to talk to their trainers, and in her time in the wild she had encountered many trainer Pok mon that would have killed to at least be able to say a few words. They were still quite tired from the walk there, and neither man nor dog had fully recovered from their injuries, so they decided it was a good time to turn in early for the night, at the local Pok mon Centre.

Alex fell asleep on the bed alone, but awoke with a rather happy Arcanine snuggling up to him, her internal flame warming him as he slept. It was hailing outside. and Arcanine was asleep; she looked like she was having a happy dream.  
She'd best enjoy the happiness for now...

-  
"Is everything on track?"  
"Yes. Pallet has forced us to begin earlier."  
"We begin tomorrow?"  
"Yes."

"God help us."  
"God help us all."  
A/N Sorry for the short chapter! Been busy this past month as i suppose you can all guess. R&R! :) 


End file.
